Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate.Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have nocontinuing city here, but we seek one to come.

Chapter 2

¶1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there shall also be false teachers among you, who shall bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

2. And many shall follow them in licentious ways, because of whom the way of truth shall be spoken evil of.

3. And in covetousness, they will make merchandise of you with crafted messages. Condemnation is not lingering long for them, and their destruction will not slumber.

4. For if God spared not angels who sinned, but tartarized them and consigned them to chains of blackness, to be held until the Judgment,

5.and ifHe did not spare the old world (though He saved eight, including Noah, a preacher of righteousness), bringing a cataclysm upon the world of the ungodly,

6.and if with a catastrophe He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when He reduced them to ashes, providing an example for those who would be ungodly,

7.and yet He rescued righteous Lot, who was vexed by the licentious conduct of the lawless

8.(for that righteous man, in what he saw and heard while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

9.then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly from temptation, and how to keep the unjust under punishment until the Day of Judgment,

10.but especially those who walk after the flesh in corrupting lust, and despise government. Bold and self-willed, they do not tremble when speaking evil of authorities,

11.whereas angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring against them demeaning accusation before the Lord.

12. But these, like unreasoning beasts of nature born to be caught and killed, speak evil of things they do not understand and will be destroyed in their destruction,

13.receiving the reward of unrighteousness. They are spots and blemishes, considering daily luxury a delight, reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you,

14.having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, seducing unstable souls, having a heart trained in covetousness; they are cursed children,

15.having forsaken the right way and gone astray in following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the reward of unrighteousness,

16.though he had been rebuked for his lawless conduct, a dumb ass, speaking with human voice, restrained the madness of the prophet.

17. These men are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom is reserved the blackness of eternal darkness.

18. Making pretentious, vain speeches, they entice to sensuality through lusts of the flesh those who once had truly escaped from those who live in error,

19.promising them liberty, themselves being servants of corruption. For by whatever one is overcome, to that is he also a slave.

20. For if after escaping the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them, and overcome, their last state is worse than the first.

21. It would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

22. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to his own vomit, and a washed sow to wallowing in the mud.”

Chapter 3

2.that you should remember the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,

3.knowing this first, that in the last days, scoffers shall come, walking after their own lusts,

4.and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they have from the beginning of creation.”

5. But they deliberately ignore this, that by the Word of God, long ago, the heavens came to be and the earth came forth out of the water and through the water,

6.and that by these waters, the world which was then by water was destroyed in a cataclysm,

7.and by the same Word, the heavens and the earth which exist now are being kept in store, reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment and the destruction of ungodly men.

¶8. This one thing do not let escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years, as one day.

9. The Lord of the promise does not delay, as some think of delay, but waits patiently for us, not wanting any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

10. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements, consumed with burning heat, will be destroyed, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

11. So then, seeing that all these things are to be destroyed, what kind of people ought you to be in all holy conduct and godliness,

12.looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens, being on fire, will be destroyed, and the elements, consumed with heat, will be dissolved?

13. But we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

¶14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

15. And consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul has also written to you, according to the wisdom given to him,

16.as he also writes in all his letters when speaking in them about these matters, among which are some things hard to understand, which those who are ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they also do the other scriptures.

17. You, therefore, beloved, knowing these things ahead of time, watch, lest being led astray by the deceit of lawless men, you fall from your own steadfastness.

18. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.